What was it like between your first record, La maschera del corvo nero, and L’albero pazzo?A very difficult moment. Nobody wanted to release L’albero pazzo. The Consorzio Produttori Indipendenti didn't like it because it was too acoustic, and at that time they were interested in more electric stuff…

Marlene Kuntz, Santo Niente…Exactly. The record came out thanks to David Sylvian. I was about to leave music altogether, and had decided to do anything else, when I heard that David Sylvian wanted to collaborate with me. Everything changed.

How did that happen?It was all very lucky. Sylvian was touring Italy with Robert Fripp, and had asked Paolo Bedini, my manager at the time and his Italian tour organizer, to listen to some Italian artists. Paolo gave him a stack of CDs, among which were the Albero pazzo demos. Some days later Sylvian called him saying he would have loved to work with me. I remember going back home and listening to Bedini's voice on my answering machine: “David Sylvian wants to work with you and write a song together”. In such a difficult moment this was a ray of sunshine. Of course, all doors flew open and the Consorzio released the record.

What kind of person is David Sylvian?He's just like you think he might be. Very calm and serene, but I didn't see him enough to get to know him deeply. He's extremely kind, coy, and very professional. We had a very weird relationship: we wrote the song without meeting each other before it was finished. We sent each other tapes, he was in Minneapolis at that time and I was in Florence, and we agreed on the subject of the lyrics communicating by fax. Initially I had asked him to sing on one of the Albero pazzo demos, but he told me he didn't know where he could fit, so I wrote a new song, Ti ho aspettato (I Have Waited for You).

Did you ever think of promoting the record abroad?We wanted to, but Warner wouldn't let us, in spite of the fact that David Sylvian tried to convince them more than once.

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans - JL 1940-1980